Currently, my life is different from how it was in that, I am my own boss. I managed to start my own business which is doing well. My income has increased and I am able to take care of my needs easily. I could never imagine opening a business like this before. I had been employed as a hawker for two and a half years getting 300 KES a day. This was not enough to sustain my needs but I had no option. With these transfers, I have been able to improve my living standards. I even moved to a better house since my income has also increased.

My new goal is to give back to the community by supporting the vulnerable. I don't have a specific project to handle this but I will plan to always support them in any way. Whenever I get a good amount of money, I will always spare some for them and even give away some of my clothes. It feels good to make someone happy. We will never be remembered by what we say or do but by how we made those people feel.

It is a holiday season. I decided to take this opportunity to maximize my profit. I bought 30 pairs of trousers which are normally on demand using a larger portion of my transfer. So far the business is doing well. I had been employed as a hawker in a neighborhood called Eastleigh but I could not do my business in peace since officers were always on our neck. I was once arrested and lost all our stock. This was one of the worst moments since we had to start all over again. After receiving my transfer, the brilliant idea of starting my business could linger all the time in my mind. I am happy since I did not have to take a loan to secure a nice shop where my boutique sits. I can never regret making this decision. Besides that, I also bought seats in my house and a bit of shopping that would last us for a while.

In the past before the transfers, I did not have any stable source of income. I used to depend on income from casual work and odd jobs in my area for survival. As a result of inconsistency, I was not able to do much in life. Even buying new clothes was just a dream in my life. I was struggling to provide for myself. When I received my first transfers, I used part of it to start a cloth business by buying a small stock to test waters. I am glad it has been doing well and I have managed to change my life because I dress well, eat well and I have a source of income. I no longer have to sit beside the road to wait for an opportunity which I am not even sure will come.

My new goal is to start a shop retail shop business. I would not want to continue hawking clothes as I have been doing since the first transfer. This is why I have chosen to start another business to help me boost my income. I have realized we do not have many shops in my area and I would want to utilize this opportunity well.

I spent my transfers on boosting my cloth business by adding more stock to the business. I started with a low capital with part of my first transfer and wanted to grow the business especially now that we are approaching the festive season. I know I will get a good income during this festive season. I have saved part of my transfer for any financial emergency that may arise in my family. I used part of it to pay house rent, bought food for my family since we were running out of what to eat and the remaining, I gifted my mother to help her with her needs.

My new goal is to buy a motorcycle that I will use as a taxi in order to earn a living. From my friend's knowledge and experience, the business is lucrative. Most of the people tend to move from one place to another and they prefer a taxi because it is fast.

Having a lot of needs that needed to be settled with a meager pay had been a challenge. I wanted a comfortable mattress and a bed. I also needed to pay rent on time. Being able to settle all of them has given me peace of mind because I do not worry about fall down because of the weak bed or even being locked out of the house by the landlord. That is the biggest difference in my daily life that I can proudly talk about.

I spent part of my transfer to purchase a mattress and bed since I had old ones. The bed was weak and the mattress was old hence uncomfortable. I was risking myself sleeping on a weak bed but I had no option because that is what I could afford. I am glad that after buying a new mattress and bed, the fears are gone. I also bought decent clothes. Apart from that, I paid rent on time. Rent has been a burden on my side to an extent that I had to talk to my landlord to pay in bits. The money really helped me to pay for a two months rent in advance. The remaining amount was spent on shopping.

The moment I received the transfer, I felt very happy. I was almost leaving for work and decided to check what time it was. There was a message notification that popped out on the screen of my phone. I quickly rush to check its content and I was amazed to see such a huge amount of money that had been sent. I could only thank GiveDirectly because I knew that I was going to accomplish most of my needs.